ORIGINS: UNIVERSE, LIFE, HUMANKIND, AND DARWIN

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We debate origins of the Universe, life, Earth, humans, religion, atheism, using common sense, evolution, cosmology, geology, archaeology, and other sciences, to repel biblical creationism and other religious beliefs.

"The Discovery Institute is once again blogging about their “evidence” for the miraculous activities of their transcendent intelligent designer — blessed be he!— who is responsible for the existence of life, its diversity, and the whole universe. Casey Luskin, our favorite creationist, is writing a series of articles about alleged “problems” with Darwinian evolution — as if unanswered questions were evidence for the Discoveroids’ “theory.”

"it is obvious that the Galapagos Islands would be likely to receive colonists, whether by occasional means of transport or by formerly continuous land, from America; and the Cape de Verde Islands from Africa; and that such colonists would be liable to modifications; the principle of inheritance still betraying their original birthplace."

"The oldest fossil records of New World monkeys (monkeys found in South America and Central America) date back 26 million years. The new fossils indicate that monkeys first arrived in South America at least 36 million years ago. The discovery thus pushes back the colonization of South America by monkeys by approximately 10 million years, and the characteristics of the teeth of these early monkeys provide the first evidence that monkeys actually managed to cross the Atlantic Ocean from Africa."~ http://phys.org/news/2015-02-fossils-heart-amazon-evidence-south.ht...

"... the earliest phases of the evolutionary history of monkeys in South America have remained cloaked in mystery. ...

"A new discovery from the heart of the Peruvian Amazon now unveils a key chapter of the evolutionary saga of these animals. In a paper published February 4, 2015 in the scientific journal Nature, the discovery of three new extinct monkeys from eastern Peru hints strongly that South American monkeys have an African ancestry."

I like Sam Harris, he always seem very thought out and calm in his approach (I loved his book "The Moral Landscape"). The problem he finds himself in in some people's view is how he deals with the Muslim faith. I feel that the reason for this is Sam cares about the actions and views and victims of actions and views globally, and this is how he speaks about it. Those offended care about how his criticism lead to demonising Muslims locally (e.g. within the US or UK say). The problem really is that we should absolutely be able to criticise the faith of Muslims (and any other) in the way Sam does, but stupid people with far right leaning make it hard, because they use the criticism (which is meant to be solely intellectual endeavor) as a justification for harassment, and the two get confused in the public consciousness. Or at least that is how it seems to me.

I think it's well thought of, on Nick Bostrom's TED profile page it refers to "his famous simulation argument" under the heading of "Why you should listen" (as part of the reason) http://www.ted.com/speakers/nick_bostrom. But as I said, even Nick Bostrom himself doesn't actually think we are actually in a simulation.

I just became aware of Sam harris yesterday and watched a video like you pointed to where he explained that thought experiment in a way that intrigued me. I'd never before seriously considered it, but he made it sound possible.